Up to now, a rack mount device, adapted for accommodating a plural number of a variety of electronic equipment, such as a recording and/or reproducing apparatus employing a cassette tape as a recording medium or a control device for controlling the recording and/or reproducing apparatus, is used by broadcasting stations. In this rack mount device, the plural electronic equipment, such as recording and/or reproducing apparatus, accommodated thereon are combined together to form a part of a broadcasting apparatus used in the broadcasting station. The unit of the rack mount device is an apparatus with a width of 19 inches (about 48.26 cm) and a height of 44.5 mm, such that the height of the apparatus may be changed in terms of this height of 44.5 mm as a unit, in order to accommodate a variety of the electronic equipment. That is, the rack mount device has a constant width of 19 inches and may have its height changed in terms of the unit height as a unit in keeping with the size of the electronic equipment accommodated therein.
As the recording and/or reproducing apparatus, mounted on this rack mount device, there is proposed a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, having a cassette tape exchanging function, in which a plural number of cassette tapes are accommodated in the main body unit of the apparatus and selectively taken out and loaded on the recording and/or reproducing unit for recording or reproducing information signals, such as video signals, audio signals or data signals.
As the cassette tape used in this recording and/or reproducing apparatus, a tape as shown in FIG. 1 is used. This cassette tape 1 is an 8 mm cassette tape having housed therein a magnetic tape with a tape width of 8 mm. An upper cassette half and a lower cassette half are abutted and unified together to a cassette half 2 within which a pair of tape reels are rotatably housed. The magnetic tape is placed around these tape reels and pulled outwards via a tape takeout opening formed in the front surface of the cassette half 2. The cassette half 2 is provided with a lid 3 for opening/closing the tape takeout opening. The lid 3 is rotationally-biased in the direction of closing the tape takeout opening, and when the cassette tape 1 is loaded on the recording and/or reproducing unit of the recording and/or reproducing apparatus, the lid is opened to expose the tape takeout opening to permit the magnetic tape to be drawn out from the cassette half.
On both lateral sides of the cassette half 2, there are formed engagement recesses 4, 4 engaged by, e.g., an insertion/ejection mechanism for inserting or ejecting the magnetic tape to or from the recording and/or reproducing unit.
As the aforementioned recording and/or reproducing apparatus employing the cassette tape as a recording medium and having the function of exchanging the cassette tape used, the present assignee has already proposed an apparatus configured as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
Meanwhile, the recording and/or reproducing apparatus having the function of exchanging the cassette tape is also termed a cassette tape library apparatus.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, such recording and/or reproducing apparatus, previously proposed by the present assignee, includes a casing 12, forming the main body unit of the apparatus. Within this casing 12, there are accommodated a cassette housing mechanism 15, a cassette tape driving device 16, and a cassette insertion/ejection mechanism 17. The cassette housing mechanism 15 includes a plural number of cassette holders 14, each including multiple tiers of shelves 13 each holding the cassette tape 1. The cassette tape driving device 16, as recording and/or reproducing means, records or reproduces information signals on or from the cassette tape 1, which is housed in each cassette holder 14 and which is selectively loaded on the cassette tape driving device. The cassette insertion/ejection mechanism 17 is adapted for transferring the cassette tape 1 between the cassette housing mechanism 15 and the cassette tape driving device 16.
The cassette housing mechanism 15 includes a rotary table 20, rotationally driven by a rotational driving mechanism 19 having a driving motor 18, as shown in FIG. 3. Around the outer rim of the rotary table 20 are toroidally arranged a plural number of cassette holders 14, as shown in FIG. 2. These cassette holders 14 are arranged on the rotary table 20 so that insertion openings 14a for the cassette tapes 1 are opened outwards. The cassette housing mechanism 15 is arranged on the front side of the casing 12 so that the insertion/ejection openings 14a of the cassette holders 14 face a cassette insertion/ejection opening 30 formed in the front side of the casing 12, as shown in FIG. 2.
The cassette tape 1 is inserted into or ejected from the cassette holder 14 of the cassette housing mechanism 15 via the cassette insertion/ejection opening 14a. The cassette tape 1 is inserted into or ejected from each cassette holder 14 by actuating the rotational driving mechanism 19 for rotating the rotary table 20 for moving the cassette holder 14, into which the cassette tape 1 is inserted or from which the cassette tape 1 is ejected, to a position facing the insertion/ejection opening 30.
The cassette tape driving device 16, into which the cassette tape 1 housed in the cassette holder 14 of the cassette housing mechanism 15 is selectively loaded and which records or reproduces the information signals on or from the so loaded cassette tape 1, is arranged on the lower surface of the cassette housing mechanism 15, as shown in FIG. 3, showing a recording and/or reproducing apparatus 11, including two cassette tape driving devices 16 arranged in juxtaposition to each other.
The cassette insertion/ejection mechanism 17 is arranged towards an inner recessed portion of the casing 12, that is towards the back side of the casing opposite to the front side thereof provided with the insertion/ejection opening 30. The cassette insertion/ejection mechanism 17 includes a cassette gripping mechanism 23 and a lift mechanism 24 for moving the cassette gripping mechanism 23 between the cassette holders 14 and the cassette tape driving devices 16. The cassette gripping mechanism 23 includes a pair of grip arms 21, 22 for gripping the cassette tape 1 accommodated in one of the cassette holders 14.
The cassette insertion/ejection mechanism 17 actuates the cassette gripping mechanism 23 for intruding the paired grip arms 21, 22 into the cassette holder 14 to grip the cassette tape 1 accommodated in the cassette holder 14. The cassette insertion/ejection mechanism then actuates the paired grip arms 21, 22 in a direction away from the cassette holder 14 to pull out the cassette tape 1. The cassette insertion/ejection mechanism then actuates the lift mechanism 24 to lower the cassette gripping mechanism 23 with the cassette tape 1 gripped thereby to a lower portion of the cassette housing mechanism 15 facing one of the cassette tape driving devices 16. The cassette gripping mechanism 23 then is actuated to move the paired grip arms 21, 22 towards the cassette insertion/ejection opening of the cassette tape driving device 16 to load the cassette tape 1 on the cassette tape driving device 16. Once the cassette tape 1 is loaded on the cassette tape driving device 16, the cassette tape driving device is in a state of recording or reproducing information signals. The recording or reproducing button provided on the recording and/or reproducing apparatus 11 is then acted on to record or reproduce the information signals for the cassette tape 1.
Meanwhile, the cassette gripping mechanism 23 is controlled so as to be moved to a pre-specified one of the cassette tape driving devices 16. That is, the cassette gripping mechanism 23 is moved to a lower position facing the cassette tape driving devices 16 and subsequently moved horizontally to a position facing the specified cassette tape driving device 16.
The cassette tape 1, loaded on the cassette tape driving devices 16 and which has recorded the information signals or from which the information signals have been reproduced, is returned to the cassette holder 14 of the cassette tape housing mechanism 15 by a procedure which is the reverse of the above-described sequence of operations. That is, the cassette tape 1, loaded on the cassette tape driving device 16, is gripped by the cassette gripping mechanism 23 and pulled out from the cassette tape driving device 16. The cassette tape 1 then is moved towards the cassette holder 14 as it is gripped by the cassette gripping mechanism 23. The cassette gripping mechanism 23 then is moved towards the cassette holder 14, and the cassette tape 1 gripped by this cassette gripping mechanism 23 is housed in the original cassette holder 14 to complete the recording or reproduction of the given cassette tape 1.
It should be noted that, in the recording and/or reproducing apparatus 111 having the exchanging function for the cassette tapes 1, the cassette holders 14, each holding the cassette tape 1, are of a multi-tiered structure, and the cassette tape driving device 16 is arranged on the lower side of the cassette housing mechanism 15 provided with the cassette holders 14. Thus, it is necessary to provide a mechanism for causing movement in the horizontal direction for inserting or ejecting the cassette tape 1 into or from the cassette holder 14 of the cassette housing mechanism 15 and a mechanism for causing movement in the vertical direction across the cassette holders 14 and the cassette tape driving device 16. As a result, not only the structure of the cassette insertion/ejection mechanism 17 is complex, but also the recording and/or reproducing apparatus 1 is increased in height, thus increasing the size of the apparatus.